


Always Chasing After You

by Pey119



Series: Rebirth [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: 9/11, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Demigods (Percy Jackson), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Complete, Depression, F/M, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Memories, Murder, Neighbors, Nico Feels, Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson Friendship, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace Fluff, Nightmares, Poor Nico, Rebirth, Reincarnation, Science Fiction, Self-Harm, September 11 Attacks, Series, World War II, different disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 18:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pey119/pseuds/Pey119
Summary: Nico met his soulmate just before he died, just before his breath left his body. In a normal world, he'd never meet his soulmate again. But his world will never be normal. With a facility to greet him every time he dies, Nico is stuck trying to find Will in every life he is born into. He desperately wants to escape, but not even death offers it.





	1. Chapter 1

Nico's first life had always been his favorite. He had no memories to plague him, no nightmares of the past, nothing holding him back. Having turned sixteen in the middle of World War Two, he was thrown into the battle with an air of dignity. He wore that uniform proudly, he fought beside his brothers. Everyone thought Pearl Harbor was going to stop the Americans from joining the war but he knew better. He knew it was the beginning of the end when those Japanese planes bombed that unexpecting refueling station.

Nico had killed and he was never the last one to admit it. Young, brainwashed with propaganda and nationalism. He thought he was saving his people by fighting in that army, by killing any Allies that he saw. He thought it was his duty as an Italian citizen to keep going until his last breath.

But that all changed the day he got hurt. The day he met his soulmate for the first time.

Bombs rained around them, bullets came from all sides. The sun had just started to shine down on them when he felt the first bullet enter his chest. He kept moving, got two more bullets until he fell to the ground. Fell right in the view of an American medic who had been hiding in a trench, looking terrified for his own life. They locked eyes, blue eyes against dark, and Will Solace of the American ground troops went to save Nico di Angelo, an Italian military officer at age 16.

But as Will brought Nico somewhere safe to fix him up, he started to realize that there wouldn't be enough time. The young medic had seen death and destruction in the thousands, but he could never get used to having to tell a patient that he couldn't do anything, that nothing in his training could stop someone from leaving the land of the living. 

That Nico was going to die no matter what he did to save the younger boy.

"What's your name?" Will finally asked, bringing his hands back from Nico's chest where he had attempted to stop the blood. "Do you understand English?"

Nico's eyes fluttered open and landed on Will's, a soft smile showing the blood on his teeth. "Of course I do. We've been trying to intercept English written messages between your troops. I had to learn."

Will brought Nico's head into his lap. "What's your name? I'm Will Solace. I was drafted a couple months ago."

Nico dark hair laid out around him as if a dark halo had grown from his bloodied head. "Nico di Angelo. Joined as soon as I was old enough to. Knew I would have been forced to soon enough. Might as well go with dignity."

Will moved a strand of hair out of Nico's face. "Your accent is cute."

Nico's pale face regained some color at his words. "You...you...American..."

Will laughed. "Relax, Nico. Don't get worked up." He reached for Nico's hand when he saw it for the first time, when he realized exactly why he looked to also be covered in blood. "Hey, Nico?"

"Hm?" Nico's eyes were to the sky, his eyelids fluttering. "What, Will?"

"You know the thing with soulmates, right?" Will asked. "The thing that if you draw on yourself, it'll appear on your soulmate? Well...it looks like if you have blood stained on you, that also works."

"What are you talking about?" Nico's eyes moved to Will's arms, moved to his body as he saw all the blood. "Pull your shirt up."

Will did as he was told, revealed his chest stained where Nico had been shot. "Nico...we're..."

Nico's eyes glossed over as an invisible pain swept through his being. "Will...am I...am I dying?"

Will kept Nico close, kept him so he knew he wasn't alone. "Yeah, I think so. I wish I could have met you sooner."

Blood dripped from Nico's mouth as he looked up at the blond American. "We'll see each other again...I've got a feeling. We'll see each other again. Just remember me. Try to remember me."

"I will, I will." Will moved closer, his emotions skyrocketing as they touched. Two soulmates, two loves finally meeting. When they realized who each other were, their attraction for one another became stronger than ever. "Nico, can I kiss you?"

Nico nodded, a small movement that he could barely finish. As Will kissed him, as those soft lips touched his own, Nico felt his vision darken and then he slipped away, slipped away from his body and from Will's arms. Everything was gone, everything was dark. The battlefield and the blood were gone.

He never expected to wake up, he never expected anything. For awhile, he was nothing. No thoughts, no memories, nothing.

But he did wake up, whether it was minutes or months later. He'd never be sure the time frame. But he woke up on that metal table, naked underneath a surgical light. Men in masks surrounded him, their black scrubs covering their skin. All Nico could see was their eyes, red and black. No other colors.

"Hello?" Nico tried to sit up but found himself strapped to the table. "Hello?!"

"You're having an operation." one of the men laid him back. "Please keep still. You won't feel a thing."

"An operation...?" Nico laid back, felt his heart beating. "You got me off the battlefield? I survived? Where's Will?"

"You're having an operation. Please keep still." the robotic voice repeated itself as a mask was moved over Nico's mouth. "Breathe in, now. You're having a simple operation."

Nico closed his eyes and breathed in, letting unconsciousness take him again. As the operating room faded away, Nico remembered the breath leaving his body. He remembered dying on that battlefield.

But he was having an operation, he was having an operation. Just a simple operation. It didn't even hurt.

It was his last second of being conscious when he realized that his heart wasn't beating. What he had felt before was an IV dripping into his veins. He had no heartbeat.

Then there was nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Nico woke up with a haze of memories and the sense that something was horribly wrong. Above him was the bottom of a bunk and below him was a hard slab of metal. He moved a hand to his heart and just as he had thought, he couldn't feel even the slightest heartbeat. Nothing. His chest was silent.

"I've gotta be dreaming..." Nico sat up and looked around the room. All metal, no windows, nothing else in the room but another bunk bed. Two boys slept on it, one on the bottom and one on top. Both only wore white shorts.

"Sounds of battle have to wake me up soon." Nico reasoned as he stared at his feet. "They always do when I get these weird dreams."

He stood up and stretched, his eyes moving to the three boys he shared the room with. He knew that if it was his dream, Will would be there with him. But none of the sleeping forms resembled the blond American he had just met, that he had somehow already fallen in love with. He had heard all the stories about when people met their soulmates, how fast they fell for each other, but he had never believed them. Why would he? It all seemed impossible and too unrealistic. He had been a soldier. He was focused on war, not romance.

But now, in a place or dream unknown, all he could think about was Will Solace.

"Wake up!" Nico smacked himself, frowning at the lack of pain. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Shuuutttt uppppp." the boy on the other bottom bunk rolled over and moved his pillow over his head. "I'm trying to sleep."

Nico stopped his own assault and looked over at the boy, scowling at the American accent. "Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same." the boy muttered. "They said we wouldn't have a room with newbies so we could sleep."

Nico rolled his eyes and advanced towards the boy. "Tell me what's going on. Even in my worst dreams, I have a heartbeat. And I'm always woken up by now. I never sleep through a battle. I'd be killed."

The boy laughed softly before sitting up. His black hair fell into his face and his green eyes shined through the fallen locks. "You really are new. My name's Percy."

"Nico di Angelo." Nico crossed his arms. "No last name?"

"Too many to count." Percy sighed. "My original one? Jackson, I think."

"Right..." Nico took a step backward. "I should've woken up by now...I should've... Unless..."

"Now you're getting it." Percy's expression turned from amusement to sadness. "I remember my first time, the moment you realize. I'm sorry."

"I'm...I'm dead?" Nico stared at his hands. "I felt it, I felt myself...going...but I woke up getting operated on. That means I was saved, right?"

Percy shook his head. "Far from it. You died. Where did you die, if I can ask?"

Nico sat beside Percy on the bed with a sigh of defeat. "I got shot a couple times in battle. I was a general in the Italian army."

"What war?" Percy questioned. "Sorry, I know it probably seems stupid to you."

"The second great war," Nico replied. "We were with Germany. They had taken France. America just entered. Now I'll never know if we won."

He stared at his lap for some time before looking up at Percy, knowing that if he was alive he'd be crying by now. "An American tried to save me. A couple minutes before I died we realized we were soulmates. While he was kissing me I just...slipped away..."

"And woke up on the operating table." Percy finished. "Sorry, man, that's a harsh first death."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Nico questioned. "You act like you...like you've lived more than one life."

"I have." Percy shrugged. "It's kind of cool but gets tiring after awhile. You live, you die, you come back here. You always come back here."

"Here..." Nico looked around them at the metal room. "Where is here?"

"I have no idea," Percy admitted. "None of us do."

Nico stood up and paced the room, searching the walls for any exit besides the very much locked door. "I feel like I'm in a cell."

"That's because you are." Percy ran a hand through his hair. "Breakfast better be soon. Now that I'm up I'm not going back to sleep without food."

"Why eat if we're dead?" Nico questioned. "That's stupid."

"It's not the food you're thinking of," Percy promised. "Calm down. You look like you're going crazy."

"What is the point of all of this?" Nico questioned. "Why can't I just go to Heaven or whatever?"

Percy sat back against the wall. "That's a long conversation."

"We have until breakfast."

"Ugh, fine." Percy gestured for Nico to sit next to him. "Your pacing makes me nervous."

Nico sat next to Percy and looked down at the white shorts he wore, scowling at the rough material. "This place is so stupid."

"You'll get used to it." Percy started to twist his fingers as if were cracking them, but no noise came out. "Us long timers have figured out some behind why we're here but not everything. Annabeth knows a lot. I'll take you to talk to her after breakfast. But basically...I think they're finding the key to immortality."

"I'm already dead," Nico replied bluntly.

"You're such a downer," Percy mumbled. "It's hard for me to explain. Just wait for Annabeth, okay?"

Nico sighed. "Who's this Annabeth?"

"My soulmate." Percy smiled at the mere thought of her. "We died together last time, so we're here together. It's nice."

"How did you die?" Nico asked. "I told you mine."

Percy looked away from Nico's dark eyes. "Me and Annabeth...we... Nico, we-"

The metal door opening cut Percy off and seemed to wake up the other two boys. They each waved to Percy before exiting the room, leaving Percy and Nico alone on the metal bed.

"Breakfast." Percy stood up. "Come on. You can talk to Annabeth. We don't want to be late."

Nico got up, tried not to feel too vulnerable without a weapon. "You didn't finish your story."

"I'll tell you later." Percy moved a hand to Nico's shoulder and led him out. "But right now it's breakfast."

Nico followed Percy down the metal hallway, followed a herd of boys that came from other open doors. They walked the same way, talked amongst themselves, seemed to be comfortable in a place that Nico was now sure wasn't a dream. From what he saw there was around fifty boys, all wearing the same thing but looking different from one another. They all...were different. Nico couldn't quite place it, but they were different.

"You see it, don't you?" Percy asked, having been watching the other boy. "I can tell by your face."

Nico looked up at him. "If you know so much, what is it? What am I seeing?"

"We're dead," Percy replied. "We're dead. We don't have bodies. What you see are just souls. I doubt you've ever seen just a soul before. That's why they're different."

"But...they look like..." Nico scowled. "Why is this so confusing? They look like humans, like you and-... We're souls? I'm not, we're not, I'm not... I'm not a human anymore...just a soul..."

"That's what happens when you die." Percy's green eyes really were shinning. "Our souls all have certain colors that stand out the most, that tell about who were are. Despite the different lives, we're always the same person."

Nico felt small beneath his gaze, felt embarrassed to be someone new. It felt like his first day in training, when everyone looked down at him. Everyone saw him as only a newbie. He missed his days as general.


	3. Chapter 3

As they walked into the large room, about as many girls walked in from a door across from them. Nico kept close to Percy as he fought through the crowd, no doubt trying to find this Annabeth he had kept mentioning. Nico lost him a few times but eventually found him sitting at one of the round tables, a blond girl sitting next to him. Her eyes were gray, as gray as her soul.

"Percy, don't leave me like that." Nico sat down with his arms crossed. "I had no idea where to go."

"Weren't you a soldier? Toughen up a bit." Percy laughed. "Relax, Nico. This is Annabeth, my soulmate. Annabeth, this is the newbie that's sharing a room with me. Nico di Angelo, dead war veteran."

"The war isn't over. How can I be a veteran?" Nico accused.

Annabeth laid a hand on Percy's shoulder before he could argue. "Nico, you'll find that time...it doesn't work right here. It might only seem like a day or two that you'll be here, but it might have actually been years in the living world."

"So the war could be over." Nico summed up. "It could be over right now."

Annabeth nodded. "Sorry."

Nico laid his head on the table. "Every few seconds, I keep trying to convince myself that this is a dream, that I'll wake up at any second. But I know it's not and I hate it."

"You'll get through it, don't worry." Annabeth moved a hand to his back and moved her thumb in small circles. "I mean, you'll be a baby again soon enough."

Nico scowled into the table. "Are you kidding me?"

Percy laughed in embarrassment. "Oh, yeah, Annabeth...I was going to have you explain everything to him. He doesn't really...know anything about...here."

"Great job, Percy. This poor boy is probably so confused." Annabeth sighed. "Nico, sit up so I can explain."

Nico huffed but lifted his head off of the table. "I thought this was supposed to be breakfast. Where's the food?"

"I'll go get our trays." Percy got up and walked off towards a long line of people, all seeming to be getting their trays as well. Once he was gone, Nico looked to Annabeth.

"All he told me was that I'm dead and that he's lived more than one life," Nico explained. "That isn't really helpful, you know."

"He's an oaf." Annabeth smiled. "But I still love him. Okay, so you died. He said you were a soldier...?"

Nico nodded. "Died while meeting my soulmate."

"Oh, that's harsh. But it makes sense." Annabeth drummed her fingers against the table. "Not all people go here when they die. Most go to Heaven or Hell. But the people that run this━well, they're not people but that's what we'll call them━they use people they think deserve another chance. They use them to carry out their experiments."

"Experiments..." Nico mused. "Experiments with rebirth?"

"Kind of." Annabeth glanced back towards Percy. "They see us and our soulmates, think we deserve another chance together. They bring us here, but I haven't figured out how yet. So when your soulmate dies, she'll come here."

"He." Nico corrected. "He'll come here."

"Right, sorry." Annabeth smiled sheepishly. "He'll come here when he dies. You both will be reborn into roughly the same timeframe. Most of us remember everything, but some of us don't."

Nico looked around him. "Will could be here soon?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. But...I wouldn't think of the leaders of this as a good group. The point of all of this isn't to achieve perfect rebirth. It's to achieve immortality. They made our souls immortal, but we always have to go back to the world of the living as a baby. They're trying to make it so we don't have to be reborn, but so we can just go back whenever. We're all part of the experiment."

Nico's smile dropped. "So, that operation...?"

"You were made one of us." Annabeth finished. "Your soulmate will be, too."

Percy came back with three trays, balancing them as if it were a magic show. "Here we go, my favored guests. Three trays of slop coming up. Who ordered the gray slop?"

"Percy." Annabeth took her tray before kissing his cheek. "Give Nico his."

Percy set a tray in front of Nico, the contents looking like metal scrambled eggs. Black, all black. Annabeth's food was gray and Percy's was a mix of blue and green, whatever way the light caught it. "You expect me to eat this?"

Annabeth nodded, her and Percy already having started to eat. "I'm not sure how, but it helps our soul stay healthy. It's not as bad as it looks. Remember, you don't have tastebuds right now. You don't have a body."

"Right..." Nico looked down at his slop. "I'm dead."

They both nodded and Annabeth smiled. "What a beautiful thing to be."


	4. Chapter 4

The first night was the easiest. Nico, still holding some hope that he was dreaming and wanting to get back to normal life, flung down in his bed and closed his eyes. In seconds, he was sound asleep. But in the morning he opened his eyes to find Percy standing over him, those green eyes seeming to smile. "Come on, breakfast."

Breakfast was just as the day before. Nico stared down at his slop and sat across from Percy and Annabeth. As the two soulmates talked amongst themselves, Nico ate with a glare every now and again at the tasteless food. Nothing seemed to change, and by the end of breakfast, he was dying for something new.

They were just about to get up when one of the operators walked into the room, causing everyone to freeze in their tracks. They watched this humanoid figure, covered in black scrubs, stalk towards the table that Nico sat at with Percy and Annabeth. He pointed at Nico, jabbed him in the chest, beckoned him to follow as he exited the room again. Nico looked at Percy and Annabeth for help, but they only motioned for him to follow as the man disappeared into the hallway.

Nico followed, but only after having to get pushed out of the room.

The metal hallways lacked any and all color, and there was never a window to let any sunlight in. The hallways were lit but no lights were in sight, and the very floor seemed to echo deep beneath its depths. Nico could picture a whole swarm of Scrubs down there, the cloth hiding large ears that listened to everyone walking above. The picture of men with elephant ears almost made him laugh, and a slight chuckle did escape his lips. Maybe this place wasn't all doom and gloom, after all.

"Nico." the man turned to face him and moved a hand to Nico's chest, right over where his heart should have been. "Your first life is over. Your next life will begin in approximately 23 hours. All memories will remain but you should save from sharing them with the world if you don't want to end up in a mental asylum. That wouldn't help the Research."

"23 hours?" Nico crossed his arms and stepped back so the man wasn't touching him any longer. "23 hours?! Are you kidding me? No, nope. I'm waiting here for Will and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Nico. Your first life is over. Your next life will begin in approximately 23 hours." the man repeated. "All memories will remain but you should save from sharing them with the world if you don't want to end up in a mental asylum. That wouldn't help the Research."

Nico bit his lip, kept back a remark. "Is that the only reason you pulled me out here?"

The Scrubs gestured to the door behind him. "Please lay down on the hospital table. You need your operation exactly 20 hours before your new life begins. Please lay down so we can get ready to begin."

Nico clenched his fists, stalked into the room, hoped beyond hope that Will would come before he left. The metal table was cold and the light was too bright, and the red eyes of the Scrubs were unnerving. He laid there, exposed, his eyes closed as he tried to block them out of his thoughts. A mask over his mouth eventually, the whispers to breathe in as consciousness faded away.

20 hours later, he felt himself slipping away again, slipping away from the metal table and slipping away from all that he had known. Slipping, slipping, further away with each second.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Will Solace lived long enough to see them retake Paris but no longer. One of their soldiers were down and he ran to help, having thought he'd be okay. He was okay on Normandy beach, he was okay up until now. He'd be okay. All he had to do was pack the wound and drag this guy to safety.

But not everything happened the way you wanted it to. Nico dying didn't happen the way he wanted it to, his last breath against his lips was terrorizing, feeling his heart stop was scarring. That moment, despite all Will had gone through, had been the worst. It had been the one moment not everything had gone as planned.

The moment of his death would be the second.

"Hold still." Will opened his pack and pulled a couple towels out before holding them to the man's bleeding chest. "You're going to be okay. Just let me get you patched up."

The man was either too out of it to listen or was being an ass. Every second he moved a different way, tried getting away from Will. It took precious seconds away from them, kept them on that battlefield longer than they needed to be. It was because of this that he was in that spot when the cannon went off.

The cannon that took both his legs with it, clean off his body. It brought pain and suffering, but he still didn't expect it to bring him death.

But the blood kept pouring out, and laying over the now dead soldier, Will closed his eyes for the last time, closed his eyes against such a cruel world. The lights flashed and he felt himself floating away, floating away from the pain and sorrow. Floating away from life to find himself on a metal table, surrounded by red and black eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

A baby boy, born to a happy American family in a quiet city in Utah. Nico Gordon, dark hair and dark eyes. By the time he turned ten, he woke up screaming every night from the nightmares that plagued him. He remembered everything, remembered the battlefields and the Facility. He never told his parents, but they worried about him.

He was sixteen when he started to try and find his long-lost soulmate. He looked him up, found that he had died not too long after Nico in that war. Nico looked wherever he could, tried to find a blond by the name of Will. Sixteen wasn't a good year, not in the least.

"Nico? Are you going to come out?" his mother knocked on his bedroom door, her anxiety evident in her voice. "Nico? We're going to that party, remember?"

"Do I have to?" Nico wrapped his wrist with ace bandages before lowering the sleeves of his suit. "Do I really have to?"

"Please? Please, baby? You need to get out of the house. I promise it'll be good for you." her name was Maria, but she was nothing like his first mom. "Okay?"

"Okay." Nico stalked to the door and edged it open, narrowing his eyes against the hallway lights. "But do we have to stay long?"

"No, we don't have to stay long." she kissed his forehead before moving a hand to his shoulder. "Come on, let's not keep your father waiting. He's excited about tonight."

She led him down the hallway, never stopping her ongoing chat with what might as well have been open air. "It's really important for his work, you know. His boss is hosting it. Maybe you could get along with his boss's son? I hear he's been hoping to get into medical school."

Nico kept his eyes on the ground, kept watching each step he took. Left foot, right foot, left. Over and over until he was in the backseat of the car and his marching could finally end. He thought back to his days in the army, thought back to all the marching before. "I hate marching. It was pointless, I think."

"What?" Maria looked back at him with her fake, makeup covered face. "What are you talking about? You've never been in the marching band."

Nico's dark eyes rested on her face before shifting to the floor of the car, taking his attention with them. "Right. Sorry, I'm half asleep."

She watched him for a moment more before turning forward in her seat, her hand reaching to grip onto her husband's. "Okay, Nico. Just try to wake up, then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico sat in the corner of the room and watched the adults mingle, his scowl deep on his face and basically melting into his soul. The music was horrible, the food was horrible, the alcohol was off limits to him. He had fought in a war but he couldn't take a sip of wine. Go figure.

It was after a sip of his pop when he saw him for the first time, when his eyes landed on a boy with a yellow soul and blue eyes. Nico immediately knew the boy's name despite never having seen him in this life before. William. His Will.

Nico stood up before he knew what he was doing, walked over to that boy as if his feet had a mind of their own. When he stopped in front of him, when he met those blue eyes, he felt like his soul was melting into a puddle. "Hi..."

"Um, do I know you?" Will turned to look at Nico in confusion.

"I...I'm Nico." Nico pointed to his own chest as if those words solved everything. "I was Nico di Angelo. Remember?"

"Um...no, sorry." Will scratched the back of his neck. "Have we met before?"

"Have we...have we..." Nico's heart dropped into his shoes and the pain in his wrist suddenly felt more comforting. "You...don't remember? World war 2...the army..."

"Are you feeling okay?" Will sat Nico in a chair before moving his fingers to Nico's neck, feeling his pulse. "Your heart's racing. Are you sick?"

"I thought you were supposed to remember..." Nico's voice was too quiet for Will to hear as he stared at the ground. What now? What was he supposed to do? Finally meeting his soulmate, having to watch from afar as the memories were only held by him?

His heart was beating too fast, his breaths came too quick. The room spun and suddenly he was vomiting, all over the expensive suit his father had just bought him. He needed to get away, needed to get out of Will's view. But there the boy was, trying to help him get steady.

Nico didn't calm down until he was in his father's arms, being carried from the building and into the car. He didn't stop crying until he was laid in the bath, his father using a washrag to get all the vomit out of his hair and off of his skin.

He couldn't think clearly until his father saw his wrist, until he was hugged and hugged for what felt like forever, until he was assured that he was loved. He was loved by his family no doubt, but he wanted to be loved by Will.


	6. Chapter 6

Nico had been a soldier, had seen death and war and destruction, but could barely talk to a blond haired boy whenever he saw him. School, work parties, even at dinner one time. The most he could say was a greeting, and then at the end of dinner maybe a farewell. Will made him nervous, creating butterflies in the veteran's stomach.

Soulmates really were an odd thing.

He only had one other conversation with Will, and that was the week before Nico died for the second time. The dinner had been quiet besides the chatter from the adults, and Nico finally found it in himself to turn to the boy beside him. "Hey, Will, um...have you ever heard of soulmates?"

Will played with his fork as he turned to look at Nico. "Yeah. People don't mention them a lot nowadays. I think they give up on it."

"That's stupid," Nico replied bluntly. "I mean...it'd be pretty cool to know someone was your soulmate, if they liked you back."

"I guess so." Will shrugged. "But I'm mostly focused on my medical career right now, so my soulmate will have to wait some years."

"You're looking to be a doctor?" Nico asked. "Military?"

Will's blue eyes sparkled. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." Nico gave him a sad smile. "Good luck over there. I know it's...I've heard it's pretty hard."

"It'll be worth it." Will agreed. "I've always wanted to save people's lives. Now I'll get a chance."

Nico smiled, trying to hide the sadness that had crept up through him. "Good luck, Will. Good luck."

The next day Nico and his parents traveled to Kentucky to visit family. Never had he expected it, but he was once again thrown into history. The days that would be known as the 1974 Super Outbreak, the tornados that raged across 13 states. Destroying homes, destroying families, destroying Nico.

He wanted to see the tornado, yes, but he also wanted to go back to the Facility. He needed to know why Will couldn't remember, needed to try and meet him there. He wanted another life with Will, a life when they could be together.

He let the tornado take him that day but he'd never admit it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico opened his eyes to find Percy's green eyes staring at him, a grin plastered on the older soul's face. "Hello, soldier. How'd your next life treat you? You're back pretty early."

"I could say the same for you." Nico sat up and looked around him, relaxing at the familiar metal room. "Nothing seems to have changed."

"Unfortunately." Percy sat next to him. "So...did you find Will?"

Nico nodded, staring at his arms where scars once stood. Now, they were nothing more but pale, lifeless limbs. "He didn't remember. He didn't remember anything."

"Oh..." Percy's eyes darkened. "I'm sorry, Nico."

"What does that mean?" Nico clenched his fists, tried to draw blood with his fingernails. "Why didn't he remember? What kind of experiment is that?"

"The worst of them all." Percy grimaced. "I've seen it happen once before. The boy remembered, the girl didn't. He killed himself every life when he turned 16. She lived every life to her fullest. They've still have never met."

Nico's face darkened. "No, no. I'm not doing that. I'm not going through every life like that. I refuse to."

"You don't really have a choice," Percy admitted. "I'm sorry, Nico. I'm really sorry. If you know any way to help you, I will. But I can't think of anything, or I would have already helped that boy."

"I'm not doing this!" Nico was suddenly on his feet, his face red as he looked around the room. "Where are those Scrubs?! I'll beat the shit out of them! Just wait until they get a taste of their own medicine!"

"Nico!" Percy grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Snap out of it! They're immortal, remember? I don't even think they're human anymore. You can't hurt them."

"Somebody has to!" Nico argued. "Or they'll keep doing this, keep sentencing people to their own form of Hell for no good reason! I'd rather be in official Hell!"

"But you aren't." Percy remained calm, kept Nico rooted in place. "You're here and you're stuck like this. The best you can do is try to get with Will in every life that you have. Act normal, become friends, become boyfriends. That's all you can do."

"That's the point," Nico replied miserably. "That's all I can do. You and Annabeth can meet up as soon as you want and live another wonderful life together. But I can't. I'm stuck watching Will forever, wondering if he'll ever love me back. But he won't. You can't love someone you don't know."

Percy shook his head. "Nico, remember the first time you died? Remember what you told me?"

Nico nodded. "I died in his arms. I had just met him, Percy. I didn't get a life with him."

"That's right, you had just met him." Percy stared into Nico's eyes. "But you said yourself that you had already fallen in love with him. Look at you. You love him and you don't know him. He can love you, too."

"The first time we met, soulmate instincts kicked in." Nico reasoned. "Why didn't they kick in in this past life?"

Percy smiled. "Soulmates are a weird thing. I think that only happens when you meet for the first time. Technically, you and Will have already met. He already loves you, deep down. You just have to drag it out of him."

Nico watched Percy before nodding. "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Fine, you've got me. I was wrong, you were right, blah blah. But tell me, if life is so amazing with Annabeth, then why do you keep ending up here? If you're here now, you died as young as me."

Percy ran a hand through his hair. "Just because you're with your soulmate doesn't mean life is flawless. Sometimes we starve to death, sometimes we get in a plane crash. Sometimes we get sick. It just depends."

"What about the time I first died?" Nico asked. "You seemed hesitant to tell me."

"That's because I didn't know how." Percy crossed his arms. "Nico...me and Annabeth...we killed ourselves that time. Okay? We killed ourselves. You weren't the only one affected by World War Two. She was a battlefield nurse and I was a soldier. We were both kidnapped and...and it was horrible. We knew we had the Facility waiting for us. So we ended it."

Nico thought back to the war, memories flooding him that started to make him feel nauseous. "You were tortured?" He looked into those green eyes, remembered where he had seen them before. A distant memory, a memory he had blocked out. "By the Italian army, right?"

Percy nodded. "You were one of the generals. Yeah, I remember you, di Angelo. I couldn't believe the first time I saw you here."

Nico looked down at his shoes, suddenly unable to meet Percy's eyes. "I'm...I don't even know how to apologize..."

"It's okay." Percy hugged Nico, making the younger boy stiffen before finally relaxing. "I forgive you. It was war. It's not like you decided to just take me out of my backyard and to a secret lair or something."

Nico laughed. "A secret lair? How original."

Percy chuckled softly as the door opened. "Look at that, breakfast. Ready for some slop?"

Nico broke the hug. "As ready as ever."


	7. Chapter 7

Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Nights alone, staring at the metal bed above him. Days watching Percy, wishing for an existence like his. Praying to whatever god ruled Heaven above, sometimes praying to whatever devil ruled Hell below. Anything to get him out of this limbo.

His next life he never saw Will, not even once. It was a short life, a life that ended at age five. Starved to death on the streets, nothing good in the world to save an innocent child. He fell into his bed at the Facility, finally thankful he had no stomach there. He never wanted to be hungry again.

But as the days in the Facility moved on, he found himself missing summer nights and winter mornings, the smell of bonfires and the sounds of the laughter coming from the park. He missed the feeling of grass against his feet and the excitement of catching fireflies. He even missed the smell of gunfire from a battlefield long ago.

Living, it seemed, was always better than limbo. Even without Will. Or, at least, from the Facility it did.

Percy showed up after Nico had been there for a week. The usual shinning green eyes were darkened and his happy attitude wasn't so happy. It had been a hard life, he told Nico. A really hard life. He missed the kids he and Annabeth finally had.

It was his next life, his fourth life, when he finally met Will again. When he finally got into a relationship with him. It started in a small apartment in New York City, a baby born under flickering lights and in a crumbling building. Nico Harmer, underdeveloped and premature. Born with nothing more than a makeshift diaper and a stolen blanket, he slept in his mother's arms in a sort of innocent peace. An innocent peace that only realized that he was warm and he was full, and that was all that mattered.

At four years old he met the boy that lived next door. His name was Will and they were around the same age, and they played together in the halls of the apartment building. Tag, hide and seek, policemen and firefighters. They helped each other learn, helped each other walk and talk. By ten years old they couldn't be separated. A sleepover at someone's apartment each night, phone calls and lunches. A lifelong friend that never knew of the past, that didn't remember a battlefield of the 40's.

By age ten Will was terrified of cannons and hated to learn about World War Two. Nico helped him skip History class and they would sit on the roof of their school, talking about nothing and everything. Bottles of pop and homemade sandwiches, kicking feet over the street forty feet below.

"I don't know why." Will's skin was darker than his last life but his eyes were the same blue. "I have nightmares about cannons. Nothing else, just a cannon. It's scary." Ten years old, scared of everything but wanting to change the world. "And that war we're talking about in history is scary, too."

Nico picked at his sandwich, kept it close to him despite knowing that Will wouldn't take it. "I think it's scary, too. You shouldn't be embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed!" Will laughed but it didn't reach his eyes. "I just don't understand."

"It talks about a lot of people dying. It's scary." Nico didn't voice that he regretted the side he fought for. "Maybe it's just the fact that it sounds...it sounds like a painful death."

"Yeah, probably." Will ate his own sandwich. "You mom makes good sandwiches from nothing."

"She toasted the bread and melted the cheese," Nico explained. "It makes the cheese taste real, she said."

"It tastes good." Will complimented. They sat in silence for a minute more before Will spoke up again, his voice curious. "Nico? Do you believe in soulmates? They're kinda gross."

"Your parents are soulmates." Nico smiled. "Remember the stories they told us?"

Will smiled. "Mom said that she writes on her arm so it shows up on dad's, so he doesn't forget how to get to work." He laughed. "She's really smart and he's not. They're opposites."

"They're happy together." Nico, in a childlike state of mind, didn't feel too strongly towards Will but still felt attached to him. "My mom says it all the time. She talks to my dad and goes, 'Hey, Harry, you know Percy and Annabeth next store? Why can't we be happy like them?'. And he says back, 'Because I'm lazy, Carol.'"

Will laughed. "I like your dad."

"Me, too." Nico agreed. "And I like my mom. She makes good food."

Will finished his sandwich and crumbled the wrapper up. "Nico? We're going to be friends forever, right?"

Nico smiled but his heart dropped. "Forever."


	8. Chapter 8

At fifteen Nico started to get romantic feelings for his best friend. They sat on the fire escape with sandwiches and cups of water, their feet dangling in the open air. It was chilly, the wind creating goosebumps on their skin.

"Hey, Will, you know how your parents can write on each other and the other will get it?" Nico asked. "We should do that. We should write to our soulmates."

Will's blue eyes were rimmed with red. It was around four in the morning, the two teenagers having come out for air after one of Will's many nightmares. "Really?"

"Yeah, get your mind off what happened." Nico reached through the window to grab a pen before sitting back down. "I dare you."

Will grabbed the pen and held it to his bare wrist. "What should I say?"

"Whatever you want." Nico watched closely, making sure to keep his own wrist in Will's sight. "You could even just say hi."

Will hesitated briefly before writing his full name on his wrist. In seconds, Nico could feel the prickling of ink on his own wrist. Before their eyes, Will's name spread over Nico's blue veins.

A siren burst through the night, the sound of cars came and went. As they stared at their wrists in the moonlight, fireflies lit up around them.

"I...I would never have believed it...if I hadn't seen it..." Will looked up to meet Nico's eyes. "We're...we're..." His eyes filled with love, love that hadn't been noticed since a trench and the sounds of gunfire.

"Soulmates." Nico finished. His face was close to Will's, close enough to smell the toothpaste on his breath. "We're soulmates. Do you still think they're gross?"

Will's blue eyes softened as they lost themselves in Nico's dark orbs. "I...I understand what they meant, when they said that the love...it comes..."

"It comes so quickly." Nico closed his eyes and felt his heartbeat speed up, felt life stir within him. He tried to forget the battlefield, tried to forget starving and the eerie noise of tornado bells in the calm before the storm. He tried to forget lives that were over so he could live now, live in a moment he had been dreaming about since the bullet went through his heart.

Their lips met just as the sirens died down, as the moon hid behind the clouds. In the darkness, they kissed with hesitant movements and chapped lips. Fifteen, a young age. A curious age. Nico melted into Will's touch, melted into the boy he had been dreaming about for decades. For Will, he was kissing the boy that made everything better, the boy that saved him from nightmares and saved him from terror. The boy that saved him in general.

In the darkness, they parted so they could breathe, parted so they could stare into each other's eyes. Dark eyes into light, black eyes into blue. Two different souls, fused together when the world began. Two different souls that would be seperated again by October.

"Holy shit..." Nico wiped his mouth before laying his head on Will's shoulder. "We're...we're..."

"I love you..." Will moved a hand to Nico's back. "I love you. I...I can't believe we've gone all this time without these feelings."

"Soulmates are weird." Nico closed his eyes and breathed in Will's scent. "You'll stay, right? You won't leave me?"

"Never." Will promised. "Never. We're together forever, remember?"

Nico grinned. "Together forever." For the first time, he believed it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boys went to Will's apartment in the morning, their hands clasped together. Percy and Annabeth waited for them, eating breakfast at the small table. Nico watched Percy for a minute before sitting down, still not having had a conversation with him, in this life at least.

"Mom, dad, Nico and I figured something out last night." Will sat next to Nico, leaving no room between them. "We're soulmates."

"You...you figured that out...?" Percy's eyes widened. "That's...good?"

"Of course it's good, you idiot." Annabeth hit his arm lightly before looking to Will. "That's amazing, Will. I'm glad you guys are happy."

Nico leaned his head on Will's shoulder as he ate, his heart in his stomach as old memories came back. He'd leave Will, one day. He'd leave him and they'd be separated again.  
Unless they went to the Facility together.

"Nico, can I talk to you for a second?" Percy stood up once his plate was empty. "Real quick."

Nico shared a look with Will before following Percy out of the room, his hands deep in his pockets. He made sure to keep his wrist visible, to keep that name in sight. Will loved him. Will loved him.

"I told you." Percy closed the bedroom door behind them. "I told you that you could do it."

"It was easier this time around," Nico admitted. "He has nightmares about his first life. And we grew up together."

"Still, you did it right." Percy ruffled his hair. "It's weird being older than you."

"Oh, shut up." Nico swatted his hand away. "Is that all you called me in here for? To gloat about being right?"

"That, but there's something else." Percy moved his hand to Nico's shoulder. "Will's my son. You hurt him and you'll be sent back to the Facility before you can blink. Deal?"

Nico grinned. "Deal."


	9. Chapter 9

Percy's eyes snapped open when he heard Will's screams from the teenager's room. Panicked, unsilenced. He gave Nico a minute to calm him down, but when the younger boy failed, Percy took matters into his own hands and ran for his son's room.

Still before midnight, September 10. A Monday that they all hated.

Percy opened the door to Will's bedroom to find Nico sitting up, trying to shake Will awake. His blue-eyed son was still asleep, sweat dripping from his forehead as he screamed from the depths of his soul.

"How long has he been like this?" Percy asked, stepped into the room. "How long?"

Nico relaxed when he saw Percy. "He was at first just having a normal nightmare. Tried snuggling with him to make it better but it didn't work. He started screaming like five minutes ago."

"Damn it." Percy sat next to his son and brought the boy into his arms. "Will, Will, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here and so is Nico. We're protecting you. There's no cannons. No cannons here."

Will's screams turned to panic sobs, his head laying against his father's chest.

"Yep, I'm right here." Percy held him close, held him as close as he could. "I'm right here...everything's okay...it's time to go to bed, nothing dangerous around us. Just us..."

It took another ten minutes before Will was sleeping peacefully again, his ear to where Percy's heart thumped in his chest. Percy made sure he was still asleep before looking to Nico, his voice low. "That was a bad one."

"I know..." Nico stared down at the bed. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything."

"It's okay." Percy looked down at his son's sleeping form. "They just get bad sometimes. It'll be okay."

Nico looked up at him, his eyes flashing in the light that leaked in from the hallway. "Percy? How'd you know to name him Will? How'd you know it was going to be him?"

Percy smiled. "I had a dream, actually. I woke up to turn to Annabeth, and we both said his name at the same time. We just knew after that. And then we found out the name of the kid next door and...well, we had a hell of a laugh."

Nico grinned. "I really like this life, even if we don't have a lot of money."

"Me, too." Percy agreed. "Me, too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A clear September day, a stop at a coffee shop on the way to school. Nico walked with Will, their hands clasped together. They shared a frappe as they walked, the two straws bobbing with each footstep. Bookbags, a kiss on the cheek, a comment on the good weather.

Nico never expected to be back at the Facility in some hours, but some things came from nowhere. Like the plane that morning, the plane that appeared in the clear sky and crashed into that unexpecting skyscraper.

"What was that?!" Will looked up at the skyline, the smile having slipped off of his tan face. "Nico..."

"That isn't good." Nico looked to the sky, looked at how advances in technology could destroy. "That couldn't have been an accident. No clouds, nothing."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Will dropped the frappe, his medic instincts kicking in.

"We're helping." Nico looked to Will. "I'll raise you to the ground floor."

"You're on!" Will took off, his bookbag jumping on his back.

"Wait up, you cheater!" Nico sprinted to catch up with him. "I'm the soldier, not you!"

Will didn't answer, too far ahead to hear. They got into the building before anybody could stop them, started to help others who came to help. Carrying people out, helping people find their kids. It was twenty minutes later, underneath the fire, that they heard the next plane come in.

"Nico..." Will looked to his boyfriend. A piece of the ceiling fell between them, bringing a roar of fire and a sense of destruction. "Nico!"

Nico climbed over the chunk of concrete and pulled Will into his arms, feeling his leg burning from a tongue of fire. "It's going to be okay. I promise you. We're going to stay together." Around them seemed to be Hell, seemed to be a scene from a war film. Fire everywhere, things crumbling and falling, the smell of burning flesh.

"I'm scared." Will looked into Nico's eyes. "We should try to get out. We need to try."

"Look around you." Nico gripped onto him. "That fire is blocking every exit by now. Just calm down and keep looking at me. Keep your eyes on me. Everything will be okay."

Will nodded. "Promise?"

"I promise." Nico smiled. "Now, kiss me?"

Will put his lips against Nico's. "So needy."

"You know me well."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico stared up at the ash and soot, stared up at the smoke curling up from the ruins. He tasted fire, felt pieces of the building in his mouth. He could smell his blood, feel it seeping out of him. His body was failing, his breaths barely came. It hurt so bad to breathe. He just wanted to stop.

Will was laying on him, lifeless. Dead. Another body lost in the rubble. As Nico closed his eyes against the world, he relaxed into the feeling of death, relaxed at the idea of slipping away. It was so easy, so peaceful. All the pain went away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico opened his eyes to find himself on his usual metal bed, the smell of fire gone. He could see clearly, could move without pain. For a minute, he let himself breathe and relax.  
Only when he remembered that Will died, too, did he shoot to his feet. "Will?!"

The blond boy rolled over on his bed but didn't wake up, his hair falling into his face. "Go away, Nico, I'm sleeping."

"Will..." Nico laid beside him. "Thank god, thank god you're here." He held Will close to him, held him close in fear of being separated again. "I love you. I love you more than anything."

"Love you, too..." Will's voice was heavy with sleep. "Love Nico, my soulmate."

Nico smiled. "That I am."


	10. Chapter 10

Will opened his eyes to see the bottom of a bunk above him. He could feel Nico cuddled into his side, feel his presence close to his own. It was relaxing, calming, and for a couple minutes, he thought that it had all been a dream. He thought that maybe, in a different world, that horrible event had happened, but it was too out there for his world, too horribly amazing in the sense that it shattered what everyone had ever known. But he didn't know where he was, didn't know why he was only wearing shorts. Memories were played with but not remembered, fear started to spread over him.

"Nico?" Will shook the other boy awake. "Nico, where are we? What's going on?"

"Will?" Nico opened his eyes to see the panic on his soulmate's face. "Will, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Where are we? What happened?" Will sat up. "Do you know?"

"Yeah, we're okay," Nico promised. "We're okay. Just calm down."

"What happened?" Will held onto Nico's hand as tight as he could. "We were...we were surrounded by fire and then I couldn't breathe and then...and then I woke up here."

Nico sat up to face him. "We...we died, Will. There's no way to sugarcoat that. We died in that building. Do you remember?"

Will leaned his head on Nico's shoulder. "We died..."

"We died," Nico repeated. "But we're okay. We're together, in no more pain. We're okay."

"Where are we?" Will questioned. "This doesn't look like Heaven..."

"That's because it's not," Nico assured him. "It's not Hell, either. It's...okay, this is going to be a really wild and crazy story, but listen through it for me, okay?"

Will kept close to him. "Alright, I'm listening."

Nico closed his eyes. "Okay...it...it started on a battlefield, a battlefield from a different time..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't taste it..." Will stared at his slop.

"Be glad, it looks horrible." Nico ate slowly. "It would probably taste horrible, too, if we had taste buds."

"Yeah, probably." Will refused to leave Nico's side. "I don't want to forget you in my next life."

"I know, but it'll be okay," Nico promised. "I'll write on my arm and we'll find each other. It'll be okay."

Will nodded. "It'll be okay..."

Nico kissed his cheek, spent time with his soulmate while he could. In a week, they'd be separated again.

Again...


End file.
